Six paintings from Matthew Brannon’s “Skirting the Issue,” an exhibition at Casey Kaplan Gallery through October 24. In this series, Brannon uses traditional printmaking methods—letterpress, silkscreening—to depict the domestic and cultural trappings of America during the Vietnam War, when he was born: “I had entered a world battered from events that left the country’s identity in jeopardy,” he writes, “and Luce’s concept of the American Century shattered.” Brannon’s work is consumed with the question of “how America is its own worst enemy.” 

Matthew Brannon, Bad Check, 2015, 59″ x 42″.

Dominoes, 2015, letterpress and serigraph on paper with hand painting, 24″ x 18”.

Ready or Not, 2015, letterpress and serigraph on paper with hand painting, 24 x 18”.

Dispatches, 2015, letterpress and serigraph on paper with hand painting, 24 x 18”.

Safety in Numbers, 2015, silk screen on paper with hand painting, 55″ x 42″.

Camelot, 2015, silk screen on paper with hand painting, 59″ x 42″.